Menu

One More Time

We love Maine. We love it here so much that these past couple of months we’ve tried to buy two different homes. We were told by our agent that we would have a difficult time in buying a home up here VA but we love it so much here, we thought we’d give it a try. The first home we were told that because it had some chipped paint in the front of it that the Appraiser would not appraise it without the entire side being painted. We have come to find that if a home isn’t in perfect condition here in Maine, they will not appraise it until it is. We are buying a home VA so it is the VA Appraisers that I am talking about. Anyways, we knew that the home had many things other things that were cosmetically imperfect and this would be against us so we backed out of the home as the owner wasn’t going to have it painted and it was too much of a financial risk for us to do so. It was a beautiful home on 55 acres, a mother in law apartment for my mother, (another thing against us here with the Appraiser), beautiful, huge barn and so much more. It broke my heart. I still love that home. It was only $180,000.

Next, we tried to buy a log home built in 2006. Barns and outbuildings on the 20 acres, gorgeous land with rolling hills of beautiful pasture around for miles and miles. The basement had radiant heat and the best part, because there were wind turbines behind the home, the owner receives a $3,000 a year noise easement for life as well as $2,000 for the next 17 years. We were going to put this towards the home and some additional funds and pay it off in 15 years. Unfortunately, the wind turbines became our hinderance to buying the home. An Appraiser went out there, took a look at the home and left. Next, they tried for weeks to find another Appraiser who would appraise it. They resubmitted our package to try once more. Prior to this they were going to not give us the loan even though we had been approved with Underwriting, because they could not find an Appraiser who would touch the house because of the wind turbines. We came to realize over many weeks that if the seller was having such troubles in selling it to us who are qualified, what about us when we one day need to sell the home in 20 years or so? My husband will be coming up on 80 then so it’s a good possibility! We felt the Lord wanted us to back out.

Every door has closed here in Maine regarding buying a home. Even the cheap homes going at it from a conventional loan (as we looked into) would not work for us. They either needed new plumbing and pipes, a new septic system or was sold as is where we didn’t know what we’d be getting into. Matthew went to the local oil/heating company in town today. He spoke with a woman there about what has happened and she shared that she completely understands. She has a son who served for 26 years in the ARMY and because he could not buy a home here through the VA, he and his family had to buy in North Carolina.

We have friends here who are dear to us. We had to say our tearful goodbyes. It was hard on all of us. Very hard. I won’t forget my sweet friend’s words while we were crying and hugging each other, “I love you so much.” It is a precious memory but it hurts. We had always hoped to meet, we lived so far apart all these years – Maine and Washington State. We will miss them dearly.

This is my favorite State. We absolutely fell in love with it here. Where else can you pull up to get gas, wonder where the debit/credit card machine is on the pump, go in and they tell you that everyone just pumps first then comes in to pay? Where else can you find people leaving their cars running while they go in grocery shopping? If you ever want to go back about 50 years, come to Maine – North of Bangor to Aroostook County (where we wanted to live) or the Northern coast such as Lubec or Eastport. It is so peaceful here, you will not find another place like it here. It is like being on vacation where you don’t want to go back.

We have felt the Lord calling us back to Missouri, not just because of all the physical that is apparent but by His Spirit as well. In Missouri the taxes are much lower, we can have some dings and cosmetic imperfections in a home and such and be able to buy (so we can buy a cheaper home). The closing costs were atrocious here…. $8,800 (more for conventional) – Missouri would be around $1500.

We also still have two sets of dear friends in Missouri.

It is hard on me, I don’t like the heat and it’s hard to leave a place where you feel like you’re on the most peaceful vacation you’ve ever been on. The colors, the noise…. all of it’s muted here. It’s very quiet, safe and we wanted to make it our home.

We know this is the Lord though and that Missouri will become home to us. Already the doors are opening, we get to stay in the same little place we stayed in, in Pittsburg Missouri where the kids played in the leaves. While it’s peaceful in Maine, you’ve never met a friendlier and more comfortable people as we met in Missouri. It is by far our second choice – though God’s first choice. : ) They are a generous, happy people there who talk freely about the Lord everywhere you go. While we were only there a short time, when we left Missouri we both shared how much we loved it and that it was going to be hard to beat Missouri.

We are already packing and getting ready to leave on Friday the 14th of April. We are going to meet some dear friends in Pennsylvania first and arrive at our destination on the 20th. We will begin house hunting right away. I am more than ready to settle in a home with my own things as they are still in storage on the ABF trailer in Kansas City Missouri. I wish I could fast forward a few years as this land is a new land to us and I know it won’t feel like home for the first couple of years. We know without a doubt that this is the Lord’s will though so we have peace about it that surpasses all understanding and that I am so grateful for. : )

The kids are handling all these moves just wonderfully. I am so happy they will get to move right back into the home we stayed in before in Pittsburg as they already know how it is… the neighbor’s dog who comes to visit them every day, the walks we’ll take as a family around the big loop in the neighborhood. We all very much loved the beauty of the land when we had to drive down to Boliver for big shopping. By the way, food is so much cheaper in Missouri too. I can order from Azure again and I do love shopping at Aldi’s.

I have more pictures to post later of our time here…. our wonderful neighbor who comes over to visit the children almost every day, the kids playing in the yard, etc… I hope to get a picture from my friend Neysha of our families together. ; ) Our time is short and it would be a bit emotional to view them right now so I will wait a while.

Please keep our family in your prayers for safe travels, one last time…. hoping to visit my friend and Maine again one day soon.